Detroiter named editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit magazine

Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read

It was announced in April that Dawn Davis would resign from her post as editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit after more than two years in the role at the Conde Nast magazine. After months of speculation, it has been confirmed that Detroit native Jamila Robinson will take the top spot at the monthly glossy.

Robinson, most recently the assistant managing editor for food and culture at the Philadelphia Inquirer, brings to Bon Appetit and digital cooking resource Epicurious decades of experience in food media, spanning back to her early days as a features designer at the Detroit Free Press, where she often designed pages for the paper’s food section. Robinson went on to hold titles at the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Gannett New Jersey newspapers.

Jamila Robinson was most recently assistant managing editor for food and culture at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Jamila Robinson was most recently assistant managing editor for food and culture at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Outside of the newsroom, Robinson is a chair for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and in 2023 completed her two-year term as the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards chair. To conclude her final speech at the JBFA Media Awards in June, Robinson presented the James Beard Award for Emerging Voice in Journalism to Free Press restaurant critic Lyndsay C. Green.

“This is the last time I get to do this, it’s a little bittersweet,” Robinson said from the stage before handing off the award. “This is exciting for me because it’s a good night for Detroit.”

More: Metro Detroit chefs snubbed in 2023 James Beard Awards

Robinson will begin the role at Bon Appetit and Epicurious on Sept. 18 as the second Black editor-in-chief in the magazine’s history. Davis’ appointment followed allegations of racism toward employees of color and the magazine’s former editor-in-chief, Adam Rapoport, resigned in 2020 after a culturally insensitive photograph of him was widely circulated.

Throughout her career, Robinson has been a champion of amplifying voices of color. Under her leadership, the Philadelphia Inquirer won an Emmy for “Wildest Dreams: An Anthology of Black Inheritance,” a collection of works by the paper’s Black writers and photographers.

“My philosophy is not only to tell people where to eat, but also to show why restaurants matter and why Philadelphia is a world-class food city,” Robinson told the Inquirer. “That's why I'm excited about this new role at Bon Appetit. The idea that food culture is for everyone becomes more expansive.”

In an Instagram post, Robinson thanked her colleagues and her “team in life.”

“I’m so excited about this next chapter,” she wrote.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroiter Jamila Robinson named editor-in-chief Bon Appetit magazine